Wednesday 25 August 2010

Art Nouveau Inspired Card

Been playing again!  MCS have launched a new CD called "Opulent" which has Arts and Crafts Movement designs on it.  However, being skint I decided to have a go at an Art Nouveau inspired card using what I already had available to me and here it is!  

The main background is a sunburst design of the main image made using MCS Pro, I have used Sakura Gold and Clear Stardust pens to add highlights to the "rays" (the effect reminds me of Tutankhamun's collar). For one of the mats I have taken a punched out design from the main image and tiled it and highlighted it in the Clear Stardust.  I printed the complete design onto a full A4 sheet and cut around half the mat and layer section so the centre section would stand upright.  I'd originally been going to leave it just as a flat print but having stared at it for a wee while decided to add layers to it.  I didn't give into the temptation to cut round the collar and shape the card further - will try that another day!

Thursday 19 August 2010

August Birthday Card No 4!



I've finally finished the August cards just in time for Hubby's Birthday tomorrow!  

Although I started working on this card first it's actually the last Birthday card to be finished cos I couldn't make up my mind what the punchline inside would be!  I finally settled on "...but never mind, I suppose you'll do!"

I've used the MCS Deco Follies for the background images and the Festive Deco Follies CD for the figure images.  I printed off an additional gentleman ("Clyde") so I could raise him off the page to give some depth to the card.
I've added some Sakura clear glaze to give the shoes a polished look and also some on "Clyde's" hair to give a "Brylcreamed" shiny haired look.  The young lady ("Beaulah") has had the Quickie glue pen/pearlescent ultra fine glitter treatment to her dress.  

Must admit I really like Nancy Watt's Deco Follies artwork, it's lovely  to work with.

Saturday 14 August 2010

August Birthday Card No 3!




August Birthday Card Number 3 is the one for Dennis, a friend of my hubby who's nickname, apparently, happens to be Bush Baby (no, I'm not sure why either!)

I managed to find a picture of a Bush Baby peeping out of a hollow tree and thought it may look nice as an invertage using the MCS Die Cut Studio template and matching card stock.


I've used 2 backgrounds for this card, the main one is from the MCS "Something Special" CD while the Happy Birthday overlay is from "Back to Basics".

The torn paper effect is an image from Craft "E" Christmas' "Crystal Sparkles" which, after a few attempts, I eventually managed to use the emboss feature on (kept telling me that MCS had stopped working!).

I've used Sakura clear gloss on the eyes and nose of the Bush Baby and on the "Chez Dennis" sign but also used Crafter's Companion Spray and Shine over the invertage die cut area.  I've used Sakura Stardust in gold to give a sparkle to the torn paper image and used a gold metallic pen to go round the die-cut to tie-in with it. 

Sunday 8 August 2010

August Birthday Card No 2!





Still playing with MCS "Tattered Lace" CD book designs!   This is the first of the cards I'll be making for Hubby's Birthday.  Still working out what design to use for my one.

On the right hand side, the Leo design and background come from "Simply Silhouettes" whilst the main background of the easel section and left hand "page" comes from "Enchanted Romance".  


I've used gold metallic ink to "gild" the pages and gold gel pen to add more definition to Leo.  The "grass" is some green tissue paper which has been coloured with Burnt Sienna Promarker to bring in the colours of the background.  The clear "bling" has been coloured with Orange Promarker in an attempt to make them look like carnelian, one of the birthstones for August.

Friday 6 August 2010

Birthday Card for Elaine




One Birthday Card down and another 3 to go this month!  

I'd just received the new MCS Tattered Lace CDs and decided to use them to make this card!  The "book" image is from the Tattered Lace CD2 and I printed off two copies, one was layered onto card and then cut out the other was cut out and the edges trimmed.  The trimmed "book" was placed on top of the other one and the "pages" arranged to give them a slight curved appearance and to give the card more depth.  The lovely rose image is from Tattered Lace CD1 and has been decoupaged.

I used Sakura Stardust in Gold to add highlights to the roses, while I used a gold metallic marker to give the edges of the papers a gilded and then gave the finished card a quick skoosh with gold Spray and Sparkle.  The velum "lace" at the bottom edge of the card came with the Tattered Lace CDs.  The finished card was made up as an easel card to enable it to stand up.

Had some more problems with the MCS Professional software, I do wish they'd fix it instead of tempting folks with new designs!  If it crashed once it did it half a dozen times. Weird stuff is also still happening - reported problems to MCS ages ago but there are some that remain to be fixed!